Epic Moments Frozen In Time
by Thisisarealtagwhy
Summary: Sometimes love can be declared by saying it verbally. Other times it can be by reminding somebody 'strap in'. It could be expressed through burning down the World Government's flag and declaring war on all 170 nations It could be shown by sacrificing yourself to a shichibukai for your captain's sake, taking on his pain and almost dying. It could be through the sacrifice during war
1. Raise Your Flag In Declaration

"Look at that symbol pirates!" Spandam cries condescendingly, pointing above the building to the flag flying in the wind.

"That mark represents the unity of over 170 nations in the four seas and the Grand Line! Do you understand how insignificant you are to stand against us?" Spandam sneers, "Do you understand how big of an organisation was after her!?"

Robin is trembling, Luffy can tell despite the gap between them.

He understands _now._

He gets why she wants them to leave.

After hearing about a Buster Call…

He has no doubt that he would be in a similar state if his entire island burned down.

Having the trash pile burned down when he was younger had really stuck in his head and he used to be terrified of the fire. The feeling of helplessness being trapped by sky high orange flames, the heat too hot to _breathe._

And then the pirates had come out of the fire, changed. They lost their sanity, so, he knew a little about what it was like to deal with a fear of something like that.

Then Ace had become fire and he wasn't scared of the flames anymore, the oppressive feeling whenever he saw fire vanished.

But to have your island burned down to ground with no survivors…

It was a magnitude of grief and horror he hadn't felt. Period.

It was the World Government that did this…

"I get it now, Robin's enemy." He murmurs gently, Robin and Ace aren't all that different in that regard, he thinks. "Sogeking."

"Hm?"

Luffy thinks that Sogeking might actually be Usopp but that's okay, if his friend wants to help without 'being there' then who is he to deny Usopp the right? A captain? No, Robin was his friend so he has the right to help.

"Shoot that flag."

His voice is steady, calm, despite the absolute _rage_ he feels as Robin trembles, caught up in her own memories.

"Roger that." Sogeking says. "New weapon: the great pachinko, called kabuto! Carefully observe its' power!"

Spandam looks confused, Luffy smirks, why on earth would _they_ care that the World Government was after Robin!? That would just increase their resolve to protect her.

They're already wanted after all.

"Ultimate Fire Bird Star!"

The bird is more like a phoenix, Luffy thinks, and if he were in any other circumstance he would be starry eyed. But he has to be firm right now so he watches in satisfaction as the World Government flag burns freely.

Spandam's eyes are literally popping out of his head and Robin looks like she's about to start crying again. "No way…"

Luffy hears the din of the marines behind them crying if the pirates know the meaning of what they just did.

He snorts, of _course_ they do, they just declared war against the World Government of course.

"Are you bastards insane!?" Spandam shrieks, looking red in the face. "Don't you dare to even dream that you'd survive having the world as your enemy!"

"I'd be happy to live with that!" Luffy screams back, letting his rage pour into his voice.

Robin starts to cry again but Luffy knows she has made her decision.

But, she might need a gentle push in the right direction… "Robin! I haven't heard it from you yet!"

She looks confused. "Say you wanna live!" He cries it as loud as he can, because Robin _deserves_ to live.

She still looks confused for a few moments and his heart breaks a little. Then she begins to cry harder and yells back "I wanna live!"

It comes out garbled from her tears but Luffy smiles because she _understands_


	2. I'm Gonna Change You, Like A Remix

Luffy doesn't understand.

He was _hurting_ so _godamn_ much when he finally defeated Moria but now he's right as rain.

And what's weirder is that Zoro is down, _Zoro is down_ and Chopper doesn't have high hopes for the swordsman.

Luffy does, because the swordsman made a promise and he _won't_ break it. Zoro wouldn't.

But it's still weird so he asks Sanji.

"Oi~! Sanji!" He cried, flinging himself at the still healing cook.

Sanji, to his credit, only hisses a little and resumes his cooking. "What?"

"Why is Zoro so broken up?" He asks, wondering why Sanji's body tenses up at the question.

"Nothing, nothing happened at all." Sanji murmurs, eyes glazing over at some unseen memory, but Luffy frowns at that because Sanji is lying and Sanji almost _never_ lies.

He might be an idiot and falls for dumb pranks but he _knows_ when his nakama are lying to him.

Sanji knows what happened to Zoro, but for some reason he doesn't want to tell him.

So Luffy unwraps his limbs from Sanji and races over to where Nami is drinking some liquor and making rough estimations of her money. "Ne Nami!"

"What do you want?" She asks, seemingly less-violent than other times, _it must be all the treasure…_

"Do _you_ know why Zoro's so beaten up?" His eyes seem to plead with her but she shrugs.

"Sorry Luffy, I don't know… It would be nice to know why you're fine but Zoro is in this state…" She murmurs and Luffy pouts.

 _Nami is telling the truth, he can tell._

"Okay." He muttered dejectedly, deciding to choose Robin next, she's smart so she'll probably know.

"Robin!" Thankfully she isn't far, she's sitting closer to Zoro's bed and quietly sipping a drink.

"Yes Luffy?" She smiles.

"Can you tell me what happened to Zoro?" He asks, noticing immediately when she seems to shut down behind her eyes.

"Fufufu, I would if I knew, sencho-san." She laughs daintily and he frowns because,

 _Robin only ever calls him sencho-san if something is bothering her._

But, it seems like she won't tell him so he sighs and flings himself to Chopper next who is still beside the man himself.

"Chopper! What's he like?" Luffy asks seriously.

Chopper sighs. "He's stable now but… I wasn't sure whether he was going to make it."

Luffy's smile turns down and he sighs with the reindeer. "Do you know what could have caused this?"

Chopper frowns. "His wounds are really unusual for Zoro, his hands are all messed up but Zoro's almost _never_ screws up his knuckles. His insides look like they were stretched thin-"

Chopper breaks off and looks shocked for a moment before he starts to mouth to himself. At the end of his little mantra he pretty much shouts. "No! I don't know what happened to Zoro! Sorry Luffy, I'll tell you if anything changes!"

Luffy ponders over Chopper's odd behaviour, why would the reindeer just shove him off mid-explanation?

He slouches over to where Usopp and Franky are dancing and sits near them dejectedly. "Oi! Luffy! Why you looking so down?" Usopp asks, even as he still shakes around to the music Brook is generating.

"Yeah bro, it's so not super!" Franky cries, slamming both of his forearms together.

"Everybody that knows what happened to Zoro won't tell _me_ what happened to Zoro…"

Usopp jumps off the table and sits beside his pouting captain. "Have you considered that maybe Zoro wouldn't want you to know the truth?"

"Nah, Zoro shouldn't care." Luffy said. "Do _you_ know why he's so messed up? Chopper explained everything to me but then he just _stopped._ Ugh, it's so frustrating."

Franky sits next to him as well, looking quite troubled. "Well, I speak for both of us when I say that I have no clue why Zoro is so injured. But whatever it is, I guess you could ask him when he wakes up?"

"Sure! I'll do that, thanks Franky!" He grins and runs off, stopping beside Zoro to deposit his straw hat on his head.

"There ya go." He says. "Take good care of this for me!"

 _This is how it really goes:_

 _"Why… must you take Luffy's head?" He questions because, there_ _has_ _to be another way._

 _"This is already my best offer." Kuma says and Zoro detests the way the bastard's gaze (at least he thinks it's his gaze) falls on Luffy._

 _"I see, go ahead and take his head, however, let mine substitute his!" Zoro manages between pants. "Let my life exchange for his! I beg of you!_

 _"I know my head is not worth much at the moment… but eventually I will become the world's greatest swordsman, I'd say exchanging my life for his is an equally good deal!_

 _Kuma looks blankly at him. "If you have such a great ambition, then by dying for him, how will you ever be satisfied?"_

 _"Aside from that… there is no other way to save the crew!" Zoro breathes in deeply. "If I can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition I have is nothing but talk! Luffy… is the man who will be King of the Pirates!"_

 _And then from the wreckage. "Hold on a minute you idiot, what are you going to do if you die? What happened to your dream idiot?!" Sanji cries in frustration._

 _"Oi!"_

 _"Oi, you big… blob. Just ignore this marimo swordsman… if you must kill somebody, then just take my life! I know the marines don't give a damn about me… but soon enough, the man who will be feared by most marines will be me. Kuroashi no Sanji!"_

 _Sanji is panting hard. "Come at once! Kill me! I've already realised that this day will come, let the flower of death bloom in me!"_

 _Zoro thinks that the shitty cook can't even speaking normally without spouting poetry. "Oi… tell everyone to take care… and that you'll have to find yourselves another chef..!"_

 _Zoro finally slams the hilt of his sword into Sanji's side, stupid cook. He thinks, of_ _course_ _it will have to be Zoro. He won't let anyone else sacrifice themselves._

 _"Bas-tard." Sanji gasps out and falls unconscious._

 _"I hope you will keep my promise after I die…" He addresses Kuma._

 _Kuma sighs. "In that case, if I still lay a hand on straw hat Luffy my honour would be at stake…"_

 _"I would be eternally grateful." Zoro says, he will be, if Luffy and the crew survives, then that is all that matters._

 _"Rest assured of what I will do now, as I will leave him unharmed, however, what you are about to experience now is,_ _ **hell.**_ _"_

 _Zoro shivers a little but stands tall._

 _The red ball that pools out of Luffy's body… All of his pain and fatigue? Just how much has the idiot been storing up? Zoro ponders._

 _"Since you already don't have much life left in you, taking this pain will only lead to your_ _ **death**_ _." Kuma says, Zoro stands unflinchingly, he doesn't care, he's made his peace with death._

 _Although, he does regret that he couldn't keep his promise to Kuina, she will be disappointed in him, but that's okay. He can live with that because, somewhere along the line, Luffy became the number one priority and he will do_ _anything_ _to ensure that he becomes King of the Pirates._

 _If that means that he won't be around to see that happen, well, that's okay, he knows it will happen._

 _"Have a try." Kuma says, flicking a small, fist sized ball of the red ball to Zoro._

 _It feels like PAIN, YOU CAN'T ESCAPE IT, THE FEELING OF YOUR BODY INFLATING BUT UNABLE TO STRETCH, PAIN, LIKE YOU'RE ON FIRE BUT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE. CAN'T ESCAPE._ _ **ESCAPE!**_

 _He gasps, eyes wide and unseeing, all of that had been in Luffy..?_

 _"Well?" Kuma asks like Zoro has decided to back out of his deal like a coward, he wants to snort derisively but instead he says._

 _"Let me decide on the location." He can't let him be the one that everyone sees when they wake up._

 _Zoro jumps into the bubble and feels_ _ **pain.**_

 _It remakes him in the_ _worst_ _kinds of ways, there is nothing for what could be_ _ **minutes days hours,**_ _ **years.**_ _But eventually it ends and he is left with not much but an everlasting_ _ **pain**_ _resonating through him._

 _He hears the shit-cook approach and internally thanks every star that it's not_ _ **Luffy**_ _that finds him first. "You really freaked me out… Oi! Where did that shichibukai go?"_

 _Stupid cook, can't he tell what happened? The ground is covered in his own blood, Zoro can feel it dripping out of places he didn't even_ _know_ _blood could come out of._

 _"Why the hell is there so much blood?" Sanji cries. "Oi… are you still alive? Where did that bastard go? What on earth happened here?"_

 _Stupid blondey, asking so many questions, Zoro whispers out. "Nothing… nothing at all."_

 _He allows himself to_ _finally_ _fall into the darkness that has been creeping at the edge of his vision._


	3. Sitting In A Dream

"One Piece…"

"Don't you dare!" Sengoku growls futilely.

"Is real!" Whitebeard cries with the rest of his will power.

"Nice final words!" Blackbeard comments and Whitebeard regrets that he hadn't killed that back-stabbing _bastard._

Whitebeard finds himself looking at the sea, he sighs because _this_ is how he dies, not from old age, or from any internal wounds.

But from his own decision.

He stands tall even in death and his cloak falls away revealing his white beard mark, untouched by the wounds from his front.

He knows that people will grieve for him, he understands that he has hurt his family by dying.

He knows that the islands he protected will fall to ruin and despair.

There are so many regrets he has but Whitebeard found his treasure.

A family.

So he wishes the straw hat brat the best of luck in his final moments and dies on his feet.

"That crazy old bastard died on his feet!"

"Pops!"

A sea of anguish rises from the allies and Whitebeard Pirates remaining. Marco cries and cries but now is really not the time to be letting out their sorrows so he screams for the remainder of the crew and allies to _run._

And then they make it, Marco knows that it is only because of Akagami-yoi's interference that they made it out _alive,_ lest with Ace and Pop's bodies.

Shanks says that it is because he respected Whitebeard, Marco knows that, but he also knows that Ace was partially retrieved because of some connection to Mugiwara-yoi.

He really hopes that mugiwara no Luffy made it out alive…

Luffy's life was Ace's final wish, they cannot tarnish that will, Luffy is technically their brother as well.

So, Marco hopes and prays and his wish is sustained a couple of weeks later when he reads the newspaper and sees mugiwara with Jinbe and Rayleigh, mourning the loss of Ace and Whitebeard.

Marco isn't a fool, he guesses that the tattoo is a message to the brats crew. He just hopes that it means they'll be back.


	4. You Are Not Alone

_written for snake screamer hope it's to your liking_

Monkey D. Luffy has never _ever_ wanted to be alone in his entire life.

And now…

If what the Baron is telling him is true then…

He wants to die.

It's as simple as that. He had never wanted to die more than ever in his life.

Well, he wasn't suicidal but he could appreciate the thoughts behind such a notion.

Being alone…

It hurt more than death!

And they were all dead because of him! What kind of a captain took his crew straight into the jaws of death.

And then…

It turns out that they're _not_ dead, just being… digested?

Luffy growls because _nobody_ should have been able to go this far.

So he follows the weird moustache guy into battle once more because _you are not alone._

Luffy bursts out of the intricate layers of tunnels and from the smoke and the dust Baron Omatsuri sees him.

Luffy looks up and _glares at the bastard._

He barely moves, avoiding the arrows that miss their intended target, disappearing into the dust.

The Baron gasps in surprise because _there is that spirit._

Baron takes aim and Luffy quickly dodges the arrow that decimates the ground where he stood.

Luffy can see the flower on the Baron's shoulder, it seems to be _chewing_ on something. Although, Luffy has a pretty good idea of what that 'something' is.

"You're only running away!" The Baron taunts, shooting again. "Got you!" He says triumphantly as the figure collapses in a pile of his severed limbs.

The moustache-ossan creeps up, holding the straw figure and smirks at the bastard that stole _his_ freedom from him. "Mugiwara! Jump in the hole to your right! Then keep going and don't stop!"

"Well done mugiwara." Moustache-ossan says from behind his binoculars, quickly moving as the Baron takes aim.

"Have you still not learned your lesson?!" The Baron shouts at moustache-ossan, as he runs from the persisting arrows, and finally, one of them connects.

Luffy stops running and turns back to his friend. "Now stay in that hole!" The Baron shouts, laughing.

"Baron…" The voice is so low that Luffy has to strain his ears to hear the old man. "Don't mess with me. If you think you can take nakama from anyone you please, you're dead wrong!"

The Baron looks bemusedly at the sight of the old fool pushing up from the rubble and debris. "As of now… I'm one of _his_ nakama!" Moustache-ossan cries, tears forming in his eyes, voice desperate.

Luffy turns and smiles, but he knows what happens next.

The Baron tilts his head back and laughs, deep and guttural, unnatural, fake. "Nakama?" The Baron asks, voice haunted. "How delightful! Mugiwara!"

He turns to the young pirate. "Listen well! The man who claims to be your nakama was once the captain of a pirate crew I annihilated!"

Luffy's chest twists, so moustache-ossan… he was alone… Luffy felt his heart swell in admiration that the man was still alive despite his nakama being killed. "A man who pleaded for mercy! A man who wretchedly shook in fear at the thought of being alone! Why would you let such a pathetic insect be your nakama?"

Luffy watches in increasing rage as moustache-ossan crawls towards another hatch in the ground, and Luffy makes a decision. The Baron pulls his arrow back on his bow, one arrow turning into ten and _fires._

Luffy races back to moustache-ossan and places a slab of debris between them, catching the stray arrow and turns back to the man "M-mugiwara…"

He snaps the arrow in his hand in rage, _how dare the Baron try and hurt more of his nakama?_ And his arm stretches back like it has countless other times and hurls it forward with the anger inside him and feels something snap in the Baron's face with satisfaction.

"I warned you." He says, low and dangerous. "I won't let you hurt my nakama!"

"Nakama?" He hears moustache-ossan choke behind him and turns around, face softer than it had been with Baron. "Moustache!"

A finger under the nose and moustache-ossan is crying. "Moustache!"

"Moustache!" The family behind them repeat, in a show of solidarity.

"Go help Mr. Reindeer and the others!" The little girl demands and Luffy turns back around, determined to finish this.

"Guys I'm coming!" He cries, running towards the unnatural 'lily'. "Hang on!"

He leaps with all of his might and stamps on the lily, it makes an unnatural metallic noise as it hits the ground. He leaps up again as it sets itself upright and punches it, twice – but yet it still stands upright.

And then…

It splits down the middle and collapses in an explosion of colours and light.

The light of the moon illuminates the split lily in a haze of orange, but it's not a lily anymore, no, it is an amalgamation of millions of arrows, all shivering in anticipation in the wind, and for the umpteenth time in his life, Luffy is terrified.

"Where are Zoro and the others?" He asks, voice shaking with barely supressed terror. "Where are they?!" He demands.

Luffy turns around slowly, to the sight of the flower on the Baron's shoulder deteriorating. "Right here."

The petals fall away and suddenly, from his shoulder the flower…

It has all of his nakama! They're _inside_ of the bulging sack, like roots on a tree. Luffy wants to scream because _what the fuck is that_?

It almost looks like a sculpture if he didn't know better. The Baron is still chuckling in the face of Luffy's terror as the _plant_ curls its' way around the man. "Die."

And then the _millions and millions of arrows are flying at him and Luffy can't breathe._

They pierce him, straight through his back, his breaths come out in wheezes and he _can't breathe can't breathe._

Is the Baron still talking? He can't tell, he can only hear the rushing of his blood in his ears and a faint ringing noise.

He feels closer to death than he ever has before but before he can stop himself, he's walking towards the Baron. Then, a voice cuts through the haze of his thoughts. "Don't lose! Mr. Reindeer and the others are calling for you!"

"Luffy you can do it! Luffy you can do it!" Luffy isn't sure whether the voices are in his head or whether he's just listening to the little girl.

 _"Luffy… sencho-san… luffy…" he can hear them, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, they're all calling for him!_

"What?!" He relishes in the fear and surprise in the Baron's face as he gains speed despite the numerous arrows embedded in his body.

"My nakama… my nakama… give them back." His voice is barely over a whisper but it carries regardless. "My nakama… give them back!"

"Lily!" Baron shouts as the lily is shot by the pirate who was brave enough to fire, he seems quite desperate.

The arrows disappear as the Baron's tenuous control collapses and Luffy falls forward in relief.

The Baron is still picking up pieces of the lily in hope that he can salvage any part of it, "Unforgivable!"

Luffy steps into the puddle of bile and guts and finally _finally_ punches Baron in the face in _blind fury._

He lets out all of the rage, all of the sadness he felt and was satisfied to hear more bones crack in his face and finally collapses and falls into the oblivion of sleep.

His crew will never know the truth, he will make sure of it.

 _they cannot know the truth._

But it turn out he doesn't have to worry about it for apparently they have no recollection of what went down.


End file.
